A marketing plan needs to be laser-focused if you want it to work well for you. The industry is getting more competitive, and you need a crystal clear plan of attack to grow your business. That plan starts with uncovering your ideal client and learning how to find more of them in your area.

Finding Your Ideal Client

If you have a marketing plan but don’t have a clear focus on your target you’re leaving your success to chance.  And in an industry that’s getting more competitive you can’t afford to leave anything to chance.

Just being great at what you do isn’t enough anymore.  Prospects aren’t thinking about your certifications, your assessment techniques or the program design methods you use.

They are thinking about the results they want and the obstacles they are facing.

You need to use your marketing to tell a story.  That story is all about how you can help your target market and Ideal Client get the results they want.

But, before we talk about finding your Ideal Client and how to market to them we need to understand the difference between your target market and your Ideal Client. It’s important to know both, because you aren’t going to only attract your Ideal Client into your business.

An Ideal Client is the perfect client for your business.  Your offer is designed around meeting their needs and it does so perfectly.

A Target Market is a very broad pool of people who your Core Offer will appeal to and that you would like to target for your business. It includes your Ideal Client, but it also includes other prospects who are similar but also have different characteristics.

Your goal is to build the foundation of your business around your Ideal Clients, but know that you’ll also attract others in the target market who are slightly different from your Ideal Client but still interested in the results you provide, and you’re happy to do business with them.

Your target market is usually defined by your Core Offer.

While you may think you have a dialed in core offer, it’s easy to get distracted and lose sight of  making sure that you’re meeting the needs of your Ideal Client and not diluting it and trying to be everything to everybody.

Too many gyms out there are offering 3-5 different services to clients trying to attract them all and by doing that they are struggling.

When you get your Core Offer right you’ll know the results you’re best at delivering, the programs you love running, how you best get those results, and what program will be best for building your business around.

That will help you narrow your focus to a target market.  An age range, result type, etc.

But we need more focus than that if you want to create a laser focused marketing plan! 

Creating Your Ideal Client 

Having a strategy is critical if you want to have success with your marketing over the long haul.  One of the very first steps that we take someone through when they join our coaching program is to help them create a marketing strategy.  That includes the Define Your Core Offer™, Creating Your Ideal Client™ and Local Market Positioning™ Tools in our coaching system.

There’s one important thing to consider when going through this exercise….

…this is what your Ideal Client is like BEFORE they start working with you, not what keeps them in your programs.  

Knowing is half the battle…

You need to know your Ideal Client extremely well.  We go as far as giving them a name and creating a profile for them complete with a picture.   

Here are some of the questions that we use with gyms to help them create their Ideal Client profile.: 

1. Where do they live?
2. What are their characteristics/traits?
3. Where do they spend their free time? 
4. Do they have a family? 
5. What is their income? Employment? 
6. What are their goals? 
7. What’s important to them? 

Some of the details may seem trivial, but rest assured this is a great way to get perspective on your prospects and how you can relate to them.

From there you start to build out their profile and create what looks like a bio or stat sheet for this person.  Complete with a name, picture, etc.  Bring your IC to life!.

The more specific you can get the better off you’ll be when you begin to implement your marketing plan. 

How do you use it? 

Now that you know who your Ideal Client is you have a better idea of things like:

• What they are looking for, 
• What’s on their mind, 
• Where are they spending time and money,
• How they talk about these things

You can start seeking out marketing channels that will put your marketing materials in front of them more frequently.

That could mean joint ventures or other businesses, social media channels, or media.

You’ll also be able to craft a marketing message that will attract your Ideal Client because you’ll know how to speak to them.  You know what’s important to them, how to relate to them, and how to speak to them in a way that will resonate.

Those two steps alone should immediately make you a better marketer.  

Knowing Your Audience

Understanding your Ideal Client in this depth is nothing short of essential to be able to cut through all of the marketing noise and make your message stand out.  And it becomes even more powerful as you start to see it attract more of your target market as well.

No amount of marketing expertise can overcome not knowing who you’re speaking to.  It’s like trying to out-train poor nutrition.